my wife's brother just took a job in saudi arabia. he is short on cash & needs some money until he gets his first check. we've sent money to her family in the PI via western union & xoom. i went to both websites & saudi arabia isn't listed, as a country we can send to.

what company do we need to use to send him some money?

can it be set up for cash pick up?

what is the approximate time for the transfer to be completed? (15 min - 2 days etc.?)

thanks for any help.

SMOKE, on 17 May 2010 - 10:47 AM, said:

Hmmm I dunno. I don;'t think any of the expat mena posters were ever connected to KSA to figure out sending money to them... I know we sent to Jordan visa moneygram and it took 24 hours to be available.. and was cash pick-up. KSA is unique in several ways and a lot of normal things aren't easy between us and them. Sending money could be one of those. You may need to look into dealing with a wire to an Islamic Bank as a third party or finding a bank there for direct transfer. I'm wondering if money transfer is underneath the net of riba and so not allowed in KSA. You may need to ask this on Vj. I know Jess and a couple of thers either lived in KSA or married someone from KSA and they may have a better idea.

Katkoot!, on 17 May 2010 - 05:41 PM, said:

Did you try a international wire transfer? I never had to send money to Saudi Arabia but I know when my husband lived there he would wire money to his parents in syria. We also wire money though our bank in the USA to Syria so Im sure it can be done to saudi arabia also. We have better relations with KSA then Syria.

i ended up calling western union. they handled the transfer over the phone. i asked why it couldn't be done online, the lady i was talking to didn't know. but, she said she had been asked that before.

thanks ladies

For future reference, it can be done through Money Gram at Walmart. -Tamara